A Teen Titans Story
by NotJustAnotherHuman
Summary: well, just like the title says, it's a Teen Titans story. It's really a work in progress so reviewing and commenting would be helpful and change the story maybe for the better. If you are going to read this, THANKS! if not, too bad. rated for safety!
1. Chapter 1

Raven had waken several times along the course of the night. Finally, at about three thirty she gave up and roamed about the tower. Sleep had refused to come to her for more than a few minutes at a time for some time now. There was always a faint whisper in the back of her mind that would not let her concentrate, no matter how hard she tried. At some point she tried to meditate, but to no avail. She could not scare away the thought that something was going to happen today. Eventually she returned to her room and started to read a book she had picked out at random. A few hours later she still had no idea what the book was about…

"Well, aren't you an early riser. Last time you woke up this early it was the end of the world," said Robin walking up behind her. At the sound of his voice Raven looked up from her reading.

"I don't know, I feel like something important is going to happen. But it's not the end of the world, at least no end that I know of." She said, hoping to reassure him.

"BB asked me to go get you, apparently he has prepared some sort of show for the rest of the team. Star is jumping up and down in excitement. I just hope it's not the same sort of thing as that snorkel-tuba thingy," said Robin.

"This early? Normally Beastboy wakes up at around noon." Raven stated, clearly not interested in seeing this 'show.'

"That got me too, but he was really excited and he said your were that guest star. He's been preparing it all night. We don't want to ruin his fun," said Robin with a smile on his face.

"Fine, we're anyways going to have to go to the main room eventually..." Raven said before leaving the room with a spacey look on her face.

Raven cautiously entered the room, trying to figure out what Beast boy could possibly have in store for her.

"Wow, you actually got her to come… miracles do happen!" shouted the green man at first sight of Raven.

"Okay let's get this thing started." said Cyborg as he motioned the chair set in the middle of the 'stage.' Raven didn't even have time to move before the alarm system started to make it's loud, and rather irritating, wail.

"Aw come on! That was going to be the best show ever!" Beastboy wailed in protest.

"What is it?" asked Robin as Cyborg checked the computers.

"Just a simple robbery by Dr. Light," said Cyborgwith a bored expression.

By the time the team arrived at the recently robbed bank, Raven could not think straight. The buzzing in the back of her mind had grown louder, and significantly more painful. All she wanted to do was wrench that terrible metallic screeching from her mind using any method that would work.

As soon as she got out of the T-car, a wave of pain washed over her and her sense of balance was thrown out the window. She tried to hold herself up by pressing her hands against the car, but she slipped and soon found herself crumpled on the ground. She faintly heard the sound of worried voices around her, but was not sure if they were real or not. Suddenly she saw flashes of a burning landscape. Then a boy, well into his teens with golden eyes, and matted, bloody, black hair appeared in her mind.

The pain stopped. She opened her eyes and saw the rest of the team starring worriedly at her. She realized that she was leaning against the T-car, pressing her temples rather painfully. Slowly, she removed her fingers from the sides of her head and got up.

"Raven… are you un-well?" asked a worried Starfire.

"I'm fine," said Raven as she turned into a shadow of a black bird and flew back in the direction of the tower. .

"What happ-" asked Robin, but Raven did not hear the rest. She was rushing back to the tower as fast as she could. Once she got in her room four candles flew from a cupboard and placed themselves around a circle of white powder. Hurriedly she sat in the middle of the circle and muttered few words. Soon she was absorbed in the power that was taking her to Azarath.


	2. Chapter 2

When Raven arrived in Azarath, she did not look at the carnage around her. She knew that he was alive and she had to find him. Nothing could stop her from that task. She scanned Azarath for any living being; she found a lot of remains from what she guessed had been alive at some point, but not much else. Then suddenly a faint aura came from some where near the far western edge of Azarath.

She hurried there and landed near a pile of rubble. As she was scanning the surrounding are she heard a faint moan behind her.

"Tokala!" she whispered to no one in particular. The rocks flew off the ground as power rushed over just about anything it could grab. Raven walked cautiously across the ground, hoping she wasn't stepping on anything alive. Suddenly a teen's broken form appeared amid the rocks and she rushed to his side.

"I knew you would come… I'm sorry it had to… hurt so much… stupid power barriers," he said, visibly having trouble breathing.

"Shh, don't talk it will drain your energy," said Raven, as she transmitted her power into his body, hoping to heal some of his injuries and relive the pain.

"Rae, I'm too weak… to do anything… but die," said Tokala.

"You were never weak… and I will help, so will my friends. I'm going to have to pick you up, it might hurt but you are going to have to bear it." Raven said thinking fast as she slipped her hands under his form. A small moan escaped his lips as she shot into the air and entered the portal back to Earth.

When she got back to her room, she immediately headed towards the infirmary. She would have just turned into her 'shadow form' but Tokala might not survive it, so she levitated down the corridors nearly colliding with Robin and Cyborg.

"Rae, where were you… Oh my god! We have to get this guy to the infirmary, pronto!" said Cyborg when he realized what Raven was holding. She shot him a 'no duh!' look before continuing her route. Soon they were all headed towards the same area, Robin running ahead so he could ready a bed.

When they arrived in the room Robin had turned on all the systems and a bed was sitting in the middle of the room. Carefully, Raven placed Tokala on the bed and sent a little more power into him, hoping to make him last a little longer. Robin and Cyborg, the current resident doctors, soon took over.

"Robin, what can I do?" asked Raven anxious to do anything that might help her long-time friend.

"You could take a shower, you're covered in blood and some other stuff I can't, and probably don't want to, name." Said Robin while bending over Tokala. Only then did Raven realize that she was covered in grime, there was dirt, dust and a whole lot of blood on her chest, legs, and arms. With a reluctant sigh she walked off to the showers.

In the hallways she met with Starfire, who, due to her nature, thought that Raven had tried to massacre herself.

"Raven, what happened??? We need to get you to the infirmary!!!" shrieked Starfire.

"It's nothing Star," responded Raven in a dull voice.

"What do you mean, you are covered in blood!!!" said Starfire.

"It's not my blood, I'm going to go wash it off now anyways," said Raven as she walked past Starfire. Her mind was in turmoil and she thought that a shower might just be the best thing for her right now.


	3. Chapter 3

"He has five fractures and a lot of cut all over him, he also seems to have bled a lot. And he's still bleeding, it doesn't seem like it's going to stop anytime soon. I don't know if we could save this guy," said Cyborg looking at a sheet that had recently come out of the infirmary printer.

"Rae really wants him to live, I don't think we should give up yet. It would tear her apart, and you know what that would mean," said Robin, attempting to clean out the boy's wounds.

"She could blow up the world, I know… so what do you think we should start with?" he said, turning to look at Robin.

"We don't know anything about this guy, I think we should talk to Raven about him, see if there's anything we should or shouldn't do." Robin said to Cyborg, "I'll go talk to her and you watch over him, don't give him anything beyond the basics, he might have a negative reaction. Raven's power thingy should keep him calm for a while." Robin said as he walked out the door.

He walked town the hallway, towards Raven's room, when he saw her moping near the infirmary door, cleaner than before.

When she saw him, she ran up and asked, "Is he still…?"

"Yeah, he's still hanging on. But we can't do anything until we know more about him. Is he allergic to anything?" asked Robin.

"He's a Hanyou like me, so think anything you would use on me would work, but it's effects will be magnified a lot. I think his number was 00 something times… as far as allergies I don't really think he has any. Oh, and he's a hemophiliac, all hanyous are…" Raven said, biting her lower lip.

"Thanks, that explains why he won't stop bleeding… you don't need to stay out here, you can come in there if you stay out of our way." Said Robin, hoping to be helpful. Raven's only answer was a nod. Together they walked into the room.

"Rae says that anything that goes for her goes for him, but in tiny portions, and that _we_ need to stop the blood flow for him." Robin announced as he walked up to Cyborg. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Raven sit on a stool in the far corner. Her head tilted instinctively as she tried to analyze how bad off the boy was. Slowly, her eyes lit up and she started floating a few inches above the seat of the stool. When Robin turned back to the patient on the bed he noticed with amazement that his fractures were healing themselves and that most of his cut were already gone.

"Whoa, Rae has some pretty good healing skills," murmured Cyborg next to him.

"Come on, we have to work now. He might not last if we wait," said Robin as he hooked up a bag of blood to transfuse into the boy. Robin knew that Raven would not let the boy go, she seemed very attached to him, but fate was one twisted maniac. Luckily, the boy was unconscious so he would most likely not feel the full force of the pain.

Maybe…

After hours of grueling work on the patient and Raven already past the point of exhaustion, Robin declared that the boy had a good chance of survival. Well, it was over 50, and right now that was good. Raven let go of her power, which had kept his pain and consciousness at bay, and walked over to the bed. Halfway there she passed out and sank to the ground. Cyborg carefully picked her up and placed her on the end of the bed.

"It's just exhaustion, she should never have been able to keep her powers on for that long." Assured Cyborg.

"We're all tired, and I don't think there's anything we can really do for him any longer. Why don't we go to bed?" said Robin stifling a yawn.

"What about Rae?" asked Cyborg.

"Leave her here, she's asleep and this might be the guy's last night, let her be near him." Robin said as he started walking towards his bedroom. Cyborg simply shrugged and turned on the security system for the tower. He needed re-charging anyways.


	4. Chapter 4

"Rae this guy's dead, there's no heart beat, no breathing, nothing at all." Cyborg said as he looked over the seemingly sleeping boy on the infirmary bed. The pour soul hadn't survived the night and Raven was having a hard time with accepting that.

"He's not dead, I can feel him... his aura isn't gone, and he's still warm!" said Raven in an extremely defensive tone of voice.

"Rae… we don't know how demons die, maybe they stay warm longer than humans." Robin said as he tried to calm down the purple haired girl in front of him.

"Give me three days, I'll heal him by then." Raven said, begging the others to accept her deal.

For a response Robin nodded and said, "Three days, after that we all agree that he's dead."

Once he and Cyborg were out of the room, Cyborg asked, "you sure that was a good thing to do?"

"It'll give her the chance to feel like she tried to save him…" responded Robin.

During every single on of theose three days Raven was constantly applying her powers into the boy. Others often stopped by to see if was still trying, but she ignored their pleas for her to rest. _He can't die… he can't… I won't let him!_ Was the sole thought in her mind as she pushed her power beyond it's normal limits. She vaguely remembered passing out a couple times, but that just made her try harder to catch up for lost time.

At the end of the second day signs of life appeared across the room. the cardiometer began picking up feable but steady heartbeats and his chest rose only a fraction with each breath, but at least he was breathing. Color was also returning to him, his skin reverting back to the tan color it had always been and his hair no longer looking dull. Soon Raven was able to take short breaks, as the other inhabitants of the tower realized that the boy was no longer dead.

"How, this is some messed up kind of Heaven, I never imagined it as a sterile room with a whole bunch of computers." said the boy on the bed.

"Tokala, who ever said that you would go to Heaven?" asked a figure walking into the room.

"This can't be heaven, Rae would never be able to gain access there," he moped to himself, making sure Raven could hear him. He attempted to sit up. A low moan escaped his lips and he sank back down on the bed.

"Very funny, but I think that defeating Trigon does deserve some reward." Raven said digging in a cabinet, looking for something. She fished out a cup and poured in a mixture that looked a lot like green vegetables gone through the blender.

"So you avoided the prophecy, I'm impressed. If you tell me how you did it I might avoid my terrible fate." The boy said with a practiced dramatic voice.

"I didn't avoid it, I let it happen then I banish my father back to his little curse… It was actually pretty hard, so I don't recommend it," said Raven, walking towards the professional drama queen with something in her hands. "Drink up, it will help with the pain." She said handing over a paper cup.

He looked at it's contents and sighed, "Do I have to? Your cooking was always the essence of disgusting" he asked. The slushy greenish liquid was no different.

"Unless you want to lay on your back like a little old man, for the rest of eternity, you _will_ drink it." said Raven, crossing her arms on her chest. When she wanted to, she knew how to be persuasive.

"Fine," He muttered as he downed the entire cup, imagining what it would be like if he was paralyzed. He shivered violently several times, and then relaxed. "Wow that feels way better!" he said blinking in amazement as he sat up without any problems.

"You didn't think I sat on the universe's second greatest spells and potions archive twiddling my thumbs, did you? Now go take a shower, you looked like some thing coughed you up," she said pointing towards a door on the wall behind her.

"bossy aren't we?" he asked with a smile, he had finally found her after all these years.

Once he got into the bathroom he realized that Raven was right. His black hair was matted with blood and he was covered in blood, dust, and dirt. A shower had never been this good of an idea before.

He was clean now. It had taken him a while to wash off all the dirt, grime and blood from the last month, but it was worth it. His normally black hair had kept a reddish tint and his tan was covered in white spots, where cuts had previously been, but other than that he was just like before the burning of his home. He had even found a pile of freshly laundered clothing on a stool. He was now wearing a spare outfit from some sort of Christmas themed superhero. Green and red really weren't his colors, but it was probably the only thing that would fit him. She had even given him the old, indestructible, medical jacket he had forced Raven to take when she had left. He smiled at that simple touch of elegance; only she would know that he hated new clothing… and now tights, they were very itchy and they made him feel very much naked.

He was relatively happy here, with the exception of the tights, and for the first time in months he did not feel pain. He walked down the hall, following Raven's familiar aura.

Suddenly he felt like his energy was being drained from him. He moaned as he sank to the ground. His head accidentally swung back and hit the wall, and then everything blanked out. His last thought was; _I spoke too soon_.

"Raven, your guest decided to take a nap in the hallway," said Cyborg as he walked in the living room, carrying the unconscious boy. "I don't know how he got that far though. And he washed too!"

"I gave him a revitalizing potion, he should have known that it wouldn't last forever." Raven said as she made room on the couch to lay him down on. Once Cyborg gently placed him on the couch. It was then that Starfire and Beastboy decided to walk into the room.

"So then I said…Who is that?" said Beast boy, switching topic mid-sentence. Starfire laughed anyways, not noticing that Beastboy had not finished the joke, and that it, obviously, was not funny.

"Apparently he is one of Raven's old buddies," said Cyborg once Starfire had calmed down.

"He looks like another Robin clone to me," said Beast boy. Raven then realized why she had come to accept Robin so quickly; he was a lot like him, especially with Robin's outfit on. They could even be twins, except for one thing; Robin probably would never have survived through all the trauma of their child years with such a happy disposition.

Suddenly an eye shot open, quickly followed by the other. A loud rumbling echoed around the room, and both eyes closed as their owner flinched.

"Here, you sound hungry," said Raven, referring to the grumble the boy's stomach had made earlier. At first nothing came, but then a perfect, juicy, shinny, red apple landed on the young boy's chest. He ran up to Raven and hugged her so tight that it was humanly impossible to breathe. The four remaining Titans clearly thought that this guy was crazy, and expected him to fall down unconscious at any time. They were especially surprised when Raven didn't do anything after he hugged her, if it had been anyone else, they would have been drop kicked to the other side of the world by now. Instead she simply said "Just eat it, everyone knows you have food."

"Oh…. Okay!" said the boy as he sat on the couch and started eating the fruit.

"Nice freak show you have here, is this the mysterious unconscious one I've heard of?" said a girl with neon pink hair and a black, knee-length dress as she walked in the room.

"Who are you? And I'm not a freak, I just haven't seen any solid food for about three weeks."

"Really, how did you do that?" said a redhead boy dressed in yellow and red spandex.

"I don't know, not being able find any, I guess." The boy said, shrugging.

"What's his name?" asked the pink haired girl to Raven, as he and the redhead kept an animated conversation about not being able to find food for long periods of time.

"His name is Tokala…" answered Raven.

"It means fox in Algonquin!" said Tokala, enlarging everyone's brain with that little fun fact.

A little green man stood up and proclaimed, in a business-like manner, "Welcome to our humble abode, Tokala. We are the Teen Titans, I am Beastboy, a shape shifter whose's abilities are beyond compare. There is also Robin, a simple human trained in the way of …umm… some sort of martial art, and who possesses great skill when it come to fighting. He is the one that is currently lending you those, o so stylish clothes. The girl in the purple is Starfire, and she is an alien princess with amazing powers, and the object of Robin's not so secret crush…Ow! That hurt Robin!!! The metal man is Cyborg, he's … well, a cyborg. The girl with the freaky colored hair that is glaring viciously at me is Jinx. I don't quite know how her powers work, but they do stuff. She used to be on the villains' side but for some reason she switched, and now she's Raven's best friend. The guy you were talking to is Kid Flash, Flash for short. He just goes really fast, and stalks Jinx for a living."

"Interesting, I always thought Raven would end up on the villans' side." said Tokala as if all his hopes had been crushed. Raven looked momentarily scared, but the emotion was wiped off her face in an instant. "Oh well, got any more apples?!?!"

"They are in the fridge… take as many as you like." said Raven impassively as she pointed to the mini-fridge that held the collection of the team's random favorite foods. Tokala ran to the fridge and grabbed the bag of apples, and swung it over his shoulder after taking one out. While chewing on a piece of the apple, he mumbled out, "Carrot-Top, Green-Boy, come with me. You guys are going to help me get _real_ clothes."

"He's kinda creepy," said Jinx to Raven as they watched everyone leave.

"You get used to it, you're tolerating Flash aren't you?" said Raven as she walked to the now apple free fridge.

"We seem to attract weirdoes," said Jinx as she picked up the book Raven had left on the coffee table.

"You can't say we're exactly normal, plus it would be boring if everyone was sane." Raven said closing the door to the mini-fridge.


	5. Chapter 5

Raven woke up drenched in cold sweat and panting. She couldn't remember what her dream was about but it couldn't have been good. Shaking bad thoughts from her head she walked off to take a shower, grabbing a new outfit on the way.

Once refreshed, she walked out into the common room of the tower. Her senses swept the area to check were all the people were. Cyborg was still recharging, Starfire and Robin were sleeping in their respective rooms. Beast boy was down by Terra's statue, probably asleep.

"You couldn't sleep either?" asked an all to familiar voice.

"What are you doing out here?" asked Raven when she saw Tokala laying on the floor near the window, sketch pad and pencil in hand.

"According to rumors I was out for 4 days, it's hard to sleep again after that. You?" he said as he was putting the final touches in one of the skyscrapers you could see in the distance.

"Nightmare, nothing much… what are you drawing?" She asked as she lay on the floor next to him. It was a well renowned fact that she needed contact with people when she woke up unwillingly.

"Boring scenery, you don't have to look at it like it's a puzzle. Its just scenery." Tokala said as Raven cocked her head to get a better look of the sketch.

"Phew, no trick in this one!" exclaimed Raven as she rolled onto her back. When Tokala looked down she smiled faintly before closing her eyes and falling asleep.

"Aw, come on. Now I have to carry you to the couch." Muttered Tokala as he gently picked up Raven and placed on the couch as if she was made of glass. He had always loved to look at Raven while she slept. Her impassable façade of neutrality disappeared and a scared and fragile child appeared before his eyes. She instinctively raised her fists to her lip, further amplifying her child-like appearance. Tokala discarded the previous sketch and started another drawing.

A while later people across the tower started to wake up. As usual the first to come in the common room was Robin. He walked in the room like every other day, ready to check the security systems, when he saw Tokala and waved over.

"Hey, what are you doing up this early?" Robin asked as he walked over to the central computer and released the night-time security system. When he turned around he saw Raven sleeping on the couch, and a flashback of when she had returned to child form came to his mind.

"How long has she been here?" asked Robin still shocked that Raven could look so fragile.

"Since about eleven yesterday, she was up long enough to tell me that she had a nightmare." Tokala said finally looking up from his drawing.

"That makes sense, she practically didn't sleep while she was treating you. I was actually scared that she would hurt herself. I'm ashamed to say that we all thought that you were dead, but she wouldn't let you go." Robin said, worry resounding in his voice.

"When she does something, she doesn't care if she gets hurt as long as it's done." Tokala said remembering the time when she had gone grocery shopping for her mother. People had thrown things at her the entire time, but she came back with everything on the list, plus a couple good-sized bruises and cuts.

"How are you two related?" asked Robin, wanting to know more about this intruder.

"We were neighbors back on Azarath, we've been friends since I was born." Tokala said casually as he returned to drawing.

"How old are you?" asked Robin, turning this chat into an interrogation.

"Four hours younger than her," said Tokala knowing that Robin needed to know more about him to accept him. All Raven's friends seemed very protective about her, actually everyone she had contact with either wanted to kill or shield her. She had that effect.

"Who were your parents, Raven said you were a hanyou too." Robin asked, hoping that Tokala's father was not bent on taking over the world as well.

"My mother was a Algonquin descendent, my father the demon turned god of death for most of the Native American Tribes. And don't worry, my father is nowhere near as powerful as hers." Tokala said without raising his head from his sketchpad.

"How did you come to know Raven?" asked Robin, running out of questions that he thought he could pull off.

Tokala momentarily hesitated; looking like he really didn't want to answer and making Robin regret asking the question. After a few seconds Tokala said, "After my mother killed herself screaming that I was a monster, I was momentarily adopted by Raven's mother. Then the deaf old lady next door volunteered to take care of me part of the time. She eventually became my official adoptive mother. From then on I was almost always with Rae."

Beast boy and Cyborg then waltzed in, arguing over the origin of waffles, and making the most possible noise. "They do not come from Asia!" shouted Cyborg.

"But the waffle irons are all made in China, why not the waffles?" said Beastboy.

"They come from Belgium, idiots," said Raven as she sat up on the couch.

"Ha! I told you that they didn't come from the South!!! I was so right!" shouted Beastboy to Cyborg, oblivious to the fact that he was wrong as well.

"What exactly are waffles?" asked Tokala, unsure of what they were talking about.

"They are dough fried in a mold, people on this planet seem to be unable to stop eating them." Said Raven getting up and turning on the teapot.

"Oh, you people eat fried foods in the morning?" asked Tokala looking slightly shocked.

Suddenly Raven appeared next to him, placing a cup of tea in his hands. She bent down and whispered softly in his ear, "No lectures this early, and I'm sure they do enough exercise to work off the fat." Tokala smiled into his cup and drank a bit of it. It tasted disgusting but it was probably some sort of restoration potion. Raven took a cup as well and walked out of the room, probably to collapse in her room.

"What did she say?" asked Beastboy, very intrigued by the sudden exchange.

"Nothing, just something about not lecturing the public about the dangers of fried foods." Tokala said shrugging and taking another gulp of the foul liquid.

"Where's Rae?" asked Jinx as she walked into the common room. Robin and Cyborg were playing videogames and Starfire was cheering them on blindly. Beastboy was having an animated conversation about the newest models of mopeds with Flash.

"I'll check," said Tokala as he looked up from his sketch pad, which was now full of random drawings that he had doodled as the whim came over him. He seemed to space out for a couple seconds but he came back quickly. "She's in her room. I think she passed out again."

"What?" Jinx said in obvious shock.

"it's okay… it's actually good for her to be unconscious. She'll heal faster this way." Tokala said to the stricken friend.

"oh," was all Jinx managed before she walked out of the common room in the direction of raven's room.


	6. Chapter 6

Over the next few weeks Tokala integrated himself into the lifestyle of the Teen Titans.

Gradually it seemed like he had always lived with them. He had received his own room; a boring dark-blue walled room with a bed and desk. Within two days after receiving it one of the walls was already covered in drawings and sketches of miscellaneous things. He spent most of his time with Beast boy and Flash, and often he would pull of elaborate pranks on the rest of the team. Surprisingly enough he never got caught for them, he had a great skill in that area.

"Tofu dog?" asked Beastboy as he placed the two fake-meat hotdogs into their buns.

"Nah," Tokala responded never looking up from his drawing.

"Don't you do anything else than draw?" asked Beasboy.

"nah," responded Tokala once more.

"He will now!" shouted Cyborg walking up to him with a football. "Since we are now an even numbers, we can _all_ play Football!!!" Raven's eyes opened wide and Tokala finally looked up from his sketchpad.

"Sorry, I'm more of the Futball type… I think you guys call it Soccer…" said Tokala as he returned to his drawing.

"Ah, but the pretty boy has no choice, he must play football," said Cyborg.

"Fine, just don't expect me to participate much. And we get to play soccer afterwards." Tokala said as he got up. Raven tried to escape the scene, but was blocked by Robin who pushed her to the open field.

"Okay, Star and Tokala are on my team, the rest are with Cy," said Robin as he walked over to the middle line, "Cy's team starts." Eventually the teams separated and the game started. As most people could have guessed Tokala and Raven did practically nothing, the game when on like they weren't even there.

"Okay! Soccer time!" shouted Tokala once he had gotten beyond bored of watching people smash into each other.

"Fine, you said you'd participate in this one." Said Robin who had given up all hopes of introducing Football to the pair.

"Okay, same teams, you guys know the rules: no touching the ball with your hands and no touching the other teams' players. Also no destroying the ball, I paid for that one. Star, Cyborg you guys are the goalies." Tokala said, now taking complete control of the situation, Soccer was one of the ways that he trained and he knew it well.

"Aw come on! Rae's not going to do anything again and we'll lose!" said Beast boy hoping to have Cyborg back on the playing field.

"Don't worry, she get pretty competitive with this…" said Tokala as he stepped up into the center of the field. "Ready?" The game started and Raven didn't move. Beast boy tried to catch the ball from Tokala but he was unable to. Tokala had sped up for only a couple of seconds, but he had managed to cross half the playing field in that time.

"Flash steps," muttered Raven as she sped up as well and stood in front of the goal, waiting for him.

"How did you guys do that?" asked Cyborg behind her, but she did not answer. Instead she turned around and kicked the ball from under Tokala's feet, sending it sailing towards Beastboy. The stunned green man managed to recover just as he caught the ball. He ran forward enough to shoot for the goal. Robin intervened at the last moment; the ball vied a little to the left. From his safe view at the goal Cyborg saw Raven disappear and reappear next to the ball. As soon as she was close enough she did some sort of flip and sent the ball sailing to the goal. Poor Starfire didn't even get the chance to react.

"Whoa, since when are you this good?" asked Robin as he ran up to Raven.

"We used to play soccer all the time when we were kids. We beat every team in Azarath so eventually we had to start playing each other. I guess its just nostalgia." Said Raven looking at the terrified Starfire who had just barely survived a traumatic experience.

"You'll never beat me!" said Tokala as he appeared next to them.

"I just did…" said Raven looking over to her adversary n all manners Soccer.

"That's cuz I let you." Tokala said sticking his tongue out. "And don't coerce my team into working for you, backstabbing is not accepted in this game." He added, making this game into a full-blown war.

"Fine," Raven answered and walked over to her side and the game continued. The goalies changed regularly because the non-demon players tired at a much faster rate than the remaining two. By the time the game was done everyone was exhausted.

"Seriously, that is the worst workout I've ever had!" said Cyborg as he sat on the bench of the picnic table. "It's scary when you see a black and white missile flying 200 mile per hour directly at you!"

"Sorry? I guess I can't control the force of my blows anymore. I haven't played in so long!" said Raven as she leaned against a tree.

"Who's up for going back to the tower and taking a shower?" asked Robin as he walked to the T-car. The rest of the group soon followed.


	7. Chapter 7

"Guys! We've got mail!" shouted Beastboy triumphantly waving five letters in the air.

"Who's it from?" asked Robin, looking up from his newly waxed boomerang.

"None other than the Justice League!" responded Beastboy as everyone stopped in his or her tracks. Cyborg was the first to recover from the momentary shock, and a loud "Boo-yah!!!" snapped everyone back to the present. Beastboy then proceeded to distribute the letters to everyone.

"So what does it say?" asked Tokala, being the only one who didn't get a letter.

"It's an invitation to a ball. Apparently we have been nominated to become a future leader of the JLU." Said Robin extremely proud that he had made it.

"Sooo, who do you think nominated who?" asked Beastboy, a mischievous grin on his face.

"Well Robin it's obviously Batman… for Star it could be Wonder Woman… for me it's probably Green Lantern… For Rae it could be anyone… but I don't know why you got nominated." said Cyborg thinking deeply.

"Hey!" shouted a humiliated and offended Beasboy, "I am an awesome superhero!"

"Do you think that BumbleBee made it?" asked Starfire, hoping that her friend was going to come with her.

"Wasn't each current leader supposed to choose two possible candidates?" said Robin, "that make ten people that will be competing for those positions. So, it is likely that she got in."

"Yeah you guys have your work cut out for you!" Said Beastboy laughing, but once he realized people didn't think it was funny, his laughter diminished.

"Rae, are you okay? You haven't said anything…" said Tokala, trying to break the eerie silence in the room.

"I don't really want to go, leading people was never really my thing," said Raven as she looked down at the unwanted letter. Suddenly her arm moved faster than the eye can see to grab the wrist of a certain yellow clad superhero that was about to flick her on the head.

"Flash stop harassing innocent bystanders!" Jinx shouted from the hallway.

"Soo… did you guys make it too?" asked Flash waving his nomination letter in front of the teens.

"Dude we are the Teen Titans, we were born accepted!" shouted Beast boy, showing off his nomination letter as well.

"Jinx, you make it?" asked Tokala.

"No, I was on the bad guy's side for a while so they'll never trust me." Jinx said as a wave of uneasiness washed over Raven, but it disappeared as fast as it came. Within the blink of an eye Raven had her stolid face back on. "But Flash said that he'd take me there, I wouldn't leave you guys go all alone to meet the Justice League."

"So, I can come too?" asked Tokala to Raven.

"No I'm going to force you to sit here while everyone else is busy at a fancy ball." Said Raven sarcastically as Tokala hugged her so tightly that she could barely breathe.

"I think I can hear her ribs cracking…" said Jinx to no one in particular.

Starfire suddenly stood up and exclaimed, "If we are all going to the ball, we are going to have to get outfits!" She then proceeded to drag both of the other girls into the hallway yapping about how pretty they would look in princess dresses.

"Aww, that means that we have to find stuff too…" whines Flash, who really liked his bright and flashy uniform.

"Bumblebee should arrive in a couple minutes, then we can start getting ready for tonight!" Starfire shouted in glee.

"Oh gods! I'm never going to survive this!" Raven said not knowing the irony of her words.

"Hey girls!" said Bumblebee walking into the room with a pile of boxes and clothing on her arm. "Who's ready to get all dolled up?" A flurry of makeup and dresses soon followed. About half an hour later the four women stood admiring their handiwork in the mirror. Jinx was dressed in a knee-length black spaghetti-strap dress and fish net tights. Bumblebee was wearing a halter-top black dress with gold glitter down the bottom rim of it. She also wore gold jewelry and gold and black heels. Starfire wore once again the purple dress she had worn to the 'prom.'

The most impressive one was also the shyest about her appearance. Raven wore a black, sleeveless, corset dress with a long slit down the right side. She looked absolutely beautiful.

"What's that?" asked Bumblebee as she saw a flash of ink under the ribbon Raven was currently tying around her arm.

"Uh, it's nothing…" Raven hurriedly said to dispel suspicion.

"OMG! You got a tattoo!" said Bumblebee excited by this new information. "Can we see it?"

"Isn't it against the rules to have a tattoo?" asked Starfire while going through the superhero rulebook that she had memorized.

"Trust me, it was entirely involuntary…" said Raven as she finished tying the ribbon, and picking up a silver choker with an amethyst jewel that resembled a bird in mid-flight.

"Okay, Rave, try these on." Jinx said as she handed a pair of fragile looking black and silver stiletto heels.

"Do I have to put those on?" said a rather terrified Raven.

"Aw, come on they are only shoes!" Jinx said in desperation, "You are a _super hero_! Shoes can't be all that bad!"

"I'll kill myself if I put those on!" Raven said, eyes wide.

"Just try them," Jinx said with an air of disappointment. Raven obliged and very nearly killed herself while trying to stand up. "You'll get the hang of it soon!" Jinx said as the rest of the females filed out the door.

Slowly the girls filed into the garage where the boys were waiting for the time to leave.

"They were right, she truly is the perfect female." Tokala whispered to himself as Raven walked out.

"Will all males please stop starring at us and get the rides ready?" asked Bumblebee loud enough to snap the guys out of their hypnotized stare. Then and "Eep!" was heard as Raven completely lost balance and started to fall. Tokala managed to catch her in time, as he was helping her back onto her feet he whispered in her ear, "you are going to learn how to walk in those things and quick."

"I plan on conveniently forgetting them in the ship." Raven whispered back as she was helped to their compartment of the T-ship.

Eventually everyone got to their seat and onto the Justice League station without further incidents, although being nine in a ship that normally hold only five was quite uncomfortable. As planned Raven forgot to put her shoes back on, therefore being forced to walk bare-foot the entire night. She actually didn't mind all too much, cold floors were _way_ more comfortable than those shoes.

When they got out of the ship a JLU member was there to great them and brought them to the main area where the rest of the nominees and the other inhabitants of the space station were awaiting for their arrival.

In the main hall of the JLU station the group met up with Aqualad and the League leaders. Robin drifted off to talk with his previous mentor and Starfire started talking with Wonder Woman. Green Lantern was having an interesting conversation with Cyborg and Bumblebee about the lack of black heroes. All together this was going to be a long night for Raven.

"Rae you really okay?" asked Tokala as he sat next to her.

"I don't know, it's just a weird feeling… I remember it from somewhere, but I have no idea why." Said Raven rubbing her temples to get rid of the feeling.

"Excuse me! I would like to welcome all the people that came out here today. As you all know this ball is to celebrate the nominees that we have chosen to represent the Justice League if anything were to happen to us… not that anything would. Ha ha!" Superman said into the microphone of the podium in the far corner of the room. The people immediately quieted and listened to the speech he had prepared. "If the nominees would like to come up when I call your name it would be appreciated. Kid Flash, Aqualad, Starfire, Angel, Robin, Thor…" Continued Superman as the named characters lined up behind him. At the sound of Angel, a girl with curly blonde hair and flawlessly white wings appeared in the air above the crowd, her lacey white gown drifting in the breeze her wings made as she flew towards the slowly forming line.

"Show off," Tokala muttered when the crowd rose to clap to her performance.

When Thor was called a muscled and tanned blonde teenager walked up the stairs and joined the line.

"… Cyborg, Bumblebee, Raven…" continued Superman.

"I guess I have to go up…" muttered Raven as she flash-stepped next to Bumblebee and the newly called Beast boy.

"These young adults are the future leaders of the Justice League. They have shown courage, strength, and intelligence in past performances and…" continued Superman.

_This is never going to end_, thought Tokala as he prepared himself for and endless speech. Luckily, or not, his prayers were answered, a loud "zap" turned the endless string of words coming out of Superman's mouth into "What the hell was that" and the power shorted out. Worried whispering echoed across the room in the few second of confusion before a wave of stinging pain knocked the crowd as well as the heroes to the ground.

Tokala appeared next to Raven and asked, "was this what you meant by the 'feeling'?"

"Probably…" she responded as a handful of red pills appeared in her palm. "Everyone, swallow one of these." Raven said holding out the pills so that the struggling nominees could take one each.

"What exactly are they?" asked the girl named Angel.

"They will stop the pain, just trust me." Raven said getting kind of impatient. Instinctively Tokala took one without protesting. After the rest saw that he was able to stand normally, and not in the crippled pose the rest were in, the others took the pill. Finally every single one of the nominees had in taken one she closed her hand.

"Wow it works!" said Angel straightening herself.

"Rae, what's going on?" asked Robin looking over the sea of superheroes writhing in pain.

"This is unmistakably Trigon's power, those pills are what he gives to his people so that they don't suffer the effects of the fire-whip. I don't quite know what he's doing here, but he probably has a stupid plan to take over the universe." Said Raven as she leaned against the wall.

"So… what exactly do we do?" asked Beast boy.

"We are going to have to figure out exactly what they are planning here, and then we have to ruin their plans. The only problem is that, those pills completely rob a person of their powers. So it's going to be much more complicated. Angel, Thor, any experience in healing without powers?"

"I can do some of the basics…" said Angel hesitatingly while Thor shook his head vigorously.

"Okay, Aqualad, Angel, you guys look after these guys. If they seem to be on the brink give them the pill, but unless absolutely necessary, save it. The rest pair up, all girls are under no circumstances to be left alone. My father tends to deal mostly in rape, and it's not pretty. You people are going to try and find information about his plans, report on the communicators when you get any information." Said Raven before handing the rest of the pills to Aqualad.

"Star, let's go!" said Robin a he walked off in a random direction, he was soon followed by the rest of the teens, with the exception of Aqualad and Angel, who decided to weave across the crowd and check the general health of the people.


	8. Chapter 8

Almost immediately after they entered a hallway Tokala asked Raven, "How come you know so much about these guys?" But before she could answer she shushed him. He looked at her questioningly, and she pointed to a couple of soon-to-be priests who were talking while walking down the hallway perpendicular to theirs.

"I can't believe the arrogance of those high and mighty priests. I just wanted to see the Blood-Diamond but no, apprentices cannot even go in the same section as that stone. Jerks, all of them are jerks!" said the first.

"Dude, I just came here for the chicks, and can you not use big words. I'm not a living dictionary you know!" said the second.

"What?! A…"said Tokala but Raven uttered a loud "Shh!" in an attempt to quiet him. It didn't work; the apprentice priests had heard them and were coming.

"Hey there's a chick! She's mine!" shouted the second one when he saw Raven.

"I am _not_ a chick." Hissed Raven in a rather terrifying manner that scared the two boys out of their wits. Three more apprentices soon came, alerted by the commotion. Raven then proceeded to glare angrily at Tokala, who answered, "What I didn't think they could hear it!" A fight erupted in the hallway, and the Titans were making short work of Trigon's underlings. But then, out of the blue, a priest of higher rankings appeared next to Raven and unsheathed a nice-sized silver sword.

"Well who do we have here? A certain run-away convict that has a nice sized reward. My how you have sunk in society since I last saw you!" said the priest, as he looked Raven over.

"And you never learned, last time you talked to me you were incapacitated for a week. This time won't be much different." Raven said, finishing her sentence with a kick to the head of her opponent. Before she knew it the silver sword that he had been using was lodged in her chest, a few centimeters below her left ribs.

"Ah, but I have gotten better as well." The priest said, suddenly empowered by the smell of burning flesh that came from Raven's wound. "I've also learned little tricks along the way, for example, you cannot heal while still conscious. Have fun bleeding to death!" the priest finished as he tore the sword out of her body, causing the blood to flow faster. "oh, do you have any last word for your daddy-dearest?" he said Mockingly as he walked away, a triumphant spring in his step.

Suddenly Raven kneeled on the ground, holding the cut and started to cough up blood, "Rae are you okay?" asked Tokala. The apprentices lay sprawled across the hallway; barely any had survived to still be conscious.

"Splendid," said Raven, her voice brimming with sarcasm.

"Come on, we have to get this fixed, can I see it?" said Tokala as he crouched to the floor in front of her. Slowly she removed her hand from the wound, letting blood flow freely. "this is going to hurt, but I have no other choice," said Tokala as he wrapped a piece of cloth over his hand and grabbed the silver sword. He could feel the metal try to sear him through the cloth. Slowly he pressed the metal to the wound, making the smell of burnt flesh hang in the air once more. Raven winced at the sudden increase in pain, but the silver had burned the blood, forcing the wound shut. Once satisfied with the healing session, Tokala wrapped her chest with a large strip of cloth and helped her up. As soon as she was standing she leaned against the wall and took out her communicator.

"Has anyone found anything?" she asked to the general public.

"well, there's an extremely large amount of people roaming around here, so we're thinking this is where the main part of the plan is…" said Jinx as Flash zoomed into view.

"Run!!!" he screamed as he ran, followed by a troop of angry priests wielding silver weapons.

"Where are you guys?" asked Raven as the image moved violently.

"we're near the power core, they have a way soopped up security system here." Jinx said, reverting to her pre-good guy self.

"We're coming," said Raven, "Anyone able to fight, go there as well."

"You sure you can get there?" asked Tokala worried for her state.

"if I don't I'm not going to be in any better of a shape. Apparently I have a ransom on my head," said Raven as she started running down the hall. Tokala soon followed.

"Raven are you Okay?" asked Jinx as she met up with the newly arrived couple. Now all the nominees except Aqualad and Angel were grouped together in a hallway near the power room.

"I'm fine, some guy just caught me off guard." Raven said as calmly as she could, moving hurt more than she thought it would.

"So what are we going to do?" asked Robin.

"we have to storm the power room's defences. No one is to actually get in there though. I don't know what's in there and it might very well kill you.

"But there's like twenty guys on each door, and they aren't exactly whimpy!" said Jinx.

"We'll have to provide a distraction. We focus all our energy on one door, and we slowly take away a couple of guards at a time." Said Cyborg, quickly coming up with a feasible plan.


	9. Chapter 9

"Raven!" screamed Tokala as he saw her fall on her side. The shards of the shattered bloodstone lay everywhere, including lodged inside her flesh. Slowly the other heroes saw that they had won, the priests were now running away in small packs.

"What's wrong?" asked Flash as his opponents scrambled down the hallway.

"The idiot decided to go and kill herself," Tokala said as he kicked down the door.

"What???" asked Jinx who was now very worried about her friend's health.

"Someone go tell Aqualad that we'll need doctors… and an area to perform surgery…" said Tokala as Flash and Beastboy sped in front. He slowly and carefully picked her up and finally saw the pitiful shape she was in. The sword wound had re-opened and she had a myriad of small puncture wounds from the crystal shards.

"Um, is her blood normally black?" asked Starfire curiously, raising a finger in the air as if she was in a classroom.

"Crap!" whispered Tokala under his breath. The shards contained poison; this was not going to be an easy task.

"In what state is she?" asked a doctor running up to the group and leading them to the hospitalization area of the Station.

"Bad and only getting worse…" said Tokala as a drop of the poison fell to the floor, the linoleum tiles sizzled in protest as the acid dug through.

"Get her in here, the rest of the team is getting surgical equipment," said the doctor as he held a door open. Tokala winced as he saw the pristine cleanliness of the white walled room. In the middle there stood a surgery table. A fluorescent light hung over it, illuminating the room. _Rae was going to freak out if she wakes up… Don't say if! She will wake up, she has to!_ Tokala screamed inside his mind. Gently he posed the nearly sheet-white girl on the table and the rest of the medics trained in surgery came into the room. One woman actually gasped at the rapidly decaying state that Raven was in.

"Leave now, you'll only get in the way if you stay in here." Said the head medic that had lead him to the room.

Tokala pulled up the sleeve of his ruined shirt and showed a small tattoo to the assembly. It was a blue shield with the universal sign of medical help written inside. "I have as much a right to be here as you guys," said Tokala as he rolled up his sleeves, it really served no point other than showing that he meant business because his shirt was already covered in blood and the black acid.

"Okay… so we have to get these clothes off her first, they are just going to get in the way." Said on of the doctors and Tokala blushed furiously.

"I knew you were too young to be a doctor, every medic has seen a patient's body before." Said the head medic, proud of his discovery.

"I have seen patients before, just not her… can't we just argue about this after she's been stabilized?" asked Tokala as he braced himself for the moments to come. Luckily Raven had had the common sense of putting on a bra and underwear for the occasion. Tokala breathed out a sigh of relief and grabbed one of the sterilized tweezers set up on a platter near the table. A couple of medics were placing heart monitors and an anesthetic mask on her. The cardio meter showed a very faint heartbeat, almost to weak to see, but Tokala told himself that it wouldn't last long. Since he was the one closest to her head he had the delicate job of removing the shards of crystal from her neck and shoulders. Fortunately she had raised her arms to protect herself when the crystal exploded so most of the shards were lodged in her arms and palms. Very soon all the medics were hard at work o the grueling process of removing stubborn pieces of crystal from different parts of her body. Quite a few of them had come dangerously close to being fatal projectiles. As they worked they tried their best to remove as much poison as possible.

"How many pieces did she manage to catch?" whispered Tokala at some point, but he could not exactly pinpoint when. Once he finished his section he moved on to the cut on her chest. "Do you guys have that new liquid band aid?" asked Tokala as one medic motioned to the far cabinet. He walked over and retrieved a brown bottle with the correct label. Carefully as he could in the crowded space he cleaned the wound, causing it to start bleeding anew. As soon as he finished cleaning it he put a healthy dose of the bandage in hopes of closing up the wound. For the first time that day something went the way it was supposed to.

"How is she?" asked Starfire as Tokala exited the surgical wing of the infirmary.

"When she gets hurt, she goes full on. That girl can seriously take down a beating." Tokala said as he wiped his forehead.

"Is she going to live?" asked Jinx who was sitting on the floor, hugging her knees.

"Still unknown, at this point she could go either way," Tokala said with a more serious air. "I was kicked out because they were going to try and change her into something more suitable for extended hospitalization."

"One problem, where did she get the power to break that stone? Didn't she take the pill?" asked Robin suddenly thinking of the question.

"None of us actually saw her take it, we just assumed because she was able to stand normally… maybe she didn't need to take it, we are talking about relatives aren't we?" said Bumblebee coming up with a quick answer. The rest of the group nodded, telling her that her theory made sense.

"She was bleeding more than she should though, maybe she just knew how to deal with it… the shards and poison probably helped the internal bleeding escape though…" Tokala said to himself.

"Poison? You didn't say anything about poison!" said a hysterical Starfire.

"Yeah, the shards of crystal contained a poison that is completely blocking her immune system… she's entirely dependent on outside sources right now." Tokala said in hopes that if the Titans were more informed they would leave Raven alone as much as possible, the first day was usually the most critical. "So is there anywhere I can change?" he asked and Flash led him to the main hall where the JLU leaders were examining and arguing over the recent events.

"How are the Titans?" asked Superman to Flash.

"All but one are perfectly fine… some are actually having their powers come back." Flash responded with a militaristic manner.

"What happened to the other one?" asked Superman.

"Rav…" started Tokala but he was interrupted by Superman who said, "I didn't ask you did I?"

"Actually he's the one who knows what happened to Raven… at least all the details." Flash said, handing the floor to his friend.

"She tried and succeeded in shattering the blood-diamond that was the source of the curse, but in return she was stabbed by a silver sword and attacked by a wave of crystal fragments that spread poison throughout her body. She just got out of immediate surgery." Tokala said simplifying the information.

"How do you know all this?" asked Wonder Woman.

"I helped the medics during surgery… I'm a full-fledged medical officer." Tokala said showing his tattoo. Flash, Batman, Jean and Green Lantern were impressed; Superman and Wonder Woman looked at each other and said, "The standards have certainly decreased recently."

"Where can I get some clean clothes?" asked Tokala, hoping to get an answer back.

"We are in the middle of a crisis, and all you can think about is clean clothing?" said Wonder Woman in outrage. This was not the kind of answer he had hoped for.

"The crisis is over, Raven saw to that… and I am covered in an acidic poison that is quite painful. Clean clothing doesn't seem a very odd thing to ask." Tokala said, defending himself.

"Come with me," said Batman as he walked off. Once they were far enough so that the others could not hear them he continued, "You seem to know much more than anyone else here. What exactly happened?"

"Well you know the part about the short circuit followed by the curse… the Raven gave us these weird pills and said that they would get rid of the pain… and they did…" Tokala explained as they walked down to the living quarters. A few times they crossed workers who were busy repairing and cleaning the damage that the Order of Scaeth had done to the Station. Once they reached Batman's temporary room Tokala had told nearly every detail he could remember. He didn't know why he had entrusted all this information with this dark and mysterious figure, but he seemed to be one of the few people with which the power hadn't gone to his head. It might also have been the fact that he had trained Robin…

When they entered the room, Tokala was impressed at the orderly cleanliness.

"I almost never sleep on the station overnight," said Batman as he took out a sweater and pants that he thought might fit Tokala. "The leaders get their own bathrooms, it's the door over in that corner. Take your time," he said as he handed Tokala the clothes.

"Thanks."


	10. Chapter 10

"Uhh," voiced Raven when she attempted moving from the distinctively corpse-like pose she was in. Everything hurt, her vision was blurry, at this moment the world just sucked.

"She woke up, she actually woke up!" screamed something that sounded vaguely female. Suddenly faces appeared in the edge of her vision. She pushed herself up into a sitting position as her head swam through the jumble that was her senses. People immediately tried to tell her something in incredibly complicated gibberish. She pushed the voices aside and swung her legs over the edge of the uncomfortable bed. Slowly her feet reached for the stone cold linoleum floor. Once she stood up she could only hold that position by gripping the edge of the bed. She swayed slightly until she found a stable pose. Then something clicked in her mind, all the senses immediately became crystal clear. She let go of the bed and executed a couple, careful, steps. She looked cautiously at the white linoleum walls and shuddered. She probably never will get used to infirmaries or any other version of an area where people tampered with other people. Her memories of experiments on her as a child were still much too recent. Slowly short fragments of what happened the day before recollected in her brain. It had been yesterday right?

Slowly she turned her head around to the nearest doctor and asked, "Can I leave?"

"You sure you're okay?" "She can walk!" "I don't think we an just let you go…" soon followed. Raven particularly disliked people who held her in unpleasant sterilized rooms… Tokala had learned that a long time ago.

"Fine," said Raven before disappearing in front of the doctor's eyes. The shadow of a bird then appeared where she had been and flew away.

"Can you get me back to Titans' Tower?" asked Raven as she unfurled in front of the teleportation officer.

"Um… sorry… I need permission from a high-ranking officer to allow that… Sorry… regulations" Said the officer shrugging, not quite knowing what to do. Raven simply nodded and walked off the edge of the platform.

"What! No!" said the officer running to the edge to see if she was okay. When he actually reached the edge he saw the same black bird she had come as fly away in the distance. He sighed and walked back to his post expecting her, actually hoping that she would come back quite soon.

She landed a few seconds later in front of the Justice League Leaders while they were in the middle of a 'team meeting.' The bird unfurled in front of the dumbfounded JLU Leaders and Raven appeared.

"How did you get in here?" asked Superman, shocked that someone could enter into the room unwanted. Especially shocked that it was the person they had been talking about just moments ago.

"There's a hole in the barrier." Said Raven pointing to the far right corner where she guessed the hole was.

"What do you want that is so important to disturb us?" asked a rather irritated Wonder Woman. Raven had just made her black list, it wasn't quite that big an achievement though, half of the world was on her blacklist.

"The doctors won't let me go home…" Raven said to put things simply.

"Kid, they probably have a reason," said Green Lantern looking at the black tight fitting long-sleeve shirt and pajama shorts.

"But I'm fine… and..." Raven said, she had almost said that she didn't like the infirmary.

"Raven…" started Superman, but he was interrupted by Batman who simply said, "Just let her go..." Everyone in the room was stunned at the sudden intrusion by the usually silent hero. The person in question rose out of his seat and silently led Raven out of the room.

"Why did you stand up for me?" asked Raven when she was alone with Batman.

"They can be incredibly arrogant when they realize their own defects, especially from one that they consider the enemy." He whispered, making sure that no one heard him speak so badly of the self-involved superheroes. When a group of maintenance workers he stood up straight and walked right past, stolid as can be.

"So there's no point in hiding the fact that I was part of them, is there?" said Raven, fingering the snake tattoo that coiled around her arm through the shirt.

"Yes, pretty much everyone knows by now," Batman said with a sigh.

"Then, why are you helping me?" she asked, tilting her head to look directly into the face of the mysterious masked man. It was quite a futile quest; the mask hid almost all of his features.

"You saved all of our lives by risking yours, and I only get stories of how you saved the day from Robin. Worth is not always by association, isn't there that expression, don't judge a book by it's cover? Plus I nominated you, I feel responsible for your condition." said Batman as Raven smiled.

"Having demon blood doesn't give you too good of a cover to start with," said Raven as she entered the main room of the Station.

"Already back? And with a quite high ranking member no else!" exclaimed the teleportation officer as he saw her walk in. Batman waved a 'go ahead' signal to the officer and Raven stepped unto the circular platform.

Raven appeared in the Tower right at the moment and place that Starfire was walking. A loud "Raven!!!!!" told all the others that she had arrived and had been walked into. She received a bone-crushing hug from Starfire and a punch on the shoulder from Beast boy. Cyborg simply picked everyone up in a gigantic group hug. Robin's face broke into a huge smile. Everybody was happy that their friend was back home.

As time progressed more and more people dropped by to say 'Hello' and 'Welcome back!' to Raven. Some even complimented the fact that she had saved the galaxy's greatest heroes from sure destruction.

"Sorry it took so long to come!" said Jinx as she ran over to Raven, "We were on a mission when we heard you were back."

"It's okay, just about everyone dropped by at some point… it feels like… like I don't' deserve this. I was part of the Order once, but no one hates me for it…" Raven said as she leaned her head back against the couch she was sitting on. She had not yet been able to stand for more than twenty minutes at a time.

"I was once part of the enemy, and people accept me… why wouldn't they accept you, especially since you almost died to save humanity how many times now?" said Jinx as she sat next to her best friend. "Seriously you need to learn how to rescue people without hurting yourself. It's very nerve wracking for others, I probably lost ten years of my life this past week."

"Wait a second, you said week… I was out for a whole week?" asked Raven surprised to learn that her timeframe was completely off.

"Yeah nobody told you yet?" Jinx said amused.

"I guess it was not that important a detail…"

"What's wrong? You haven't said anything all day," asked Raven as she finally cornered Tokala, alone.

"Nothing…" he said as he tried to pass by her. Instead she grabbed his arm and said, "I know you better than this…"

"How come you didn't tell me..." he whispered silently under his breath, Raven was forced to use her extra senses to catch the phrase.

"I never told anyone, I was scared of telling myself that was once part of them… much less anyone else." Raven said looking down at her feet, letting her hand drop from his arm. "I…"

"I would have understood, no one can always be perfect." Tokala said now looking at her face.

"You are assuming that that I have been prefect before." Raven said sarcastically.

"You have," said Tokala as his lips caught hers. Raven felt one of her hand climb back up him arm and settle around his neck, bringing him closer. His basic demon instincts took over as he pushed her against the nearby wall with his hip. After what seemed like centuries later, they broke apart, both panting.

"Your ears came out…" Raven said playing with one of his rust-red ears. She knew that she probably had her four eyes and fangs as well. Tokala's face turned a red so bright it he could have been put in _the Guiness Book of Records_ for it… He knew exactly why their demon traits had come out…

"Beep! Beep! Raven, come in," the communicator gurgled to the pair. Raven sighed and grabbed the annoying electronic bumblebee wannabe. She blinked repetitively, forcing her demon features away.

"Yes?" she answered in an annoyed voice.

"Um… there's Justice League guys here and they are asking for you…they said it was urgent," responded a somewhat confused Robin.

"Don't they always? Fine I'm coming." said Raven as she closed the metal contraption. "You want to come or not?" she asked to Tokala who was having considerable trouble controlling his 'extra appendages.'

"Why not… How do you get rid of these?" he responded, his ears rebelling against him. She told him her secret and they both walked towards the common room where unwanted visitors were waiting for them.

When they entered the room, they saw a very much annoyed Wonder Woman and Superman. Not a good start.

"We have better things to do than wait for you, you couldn't have hurried up?" said Superman in an authoritarian manner.

"Then get to the point, why are you here?" said Raven impassively. This only angered the older heroes more.

"The doctors were scared of tapping your memories while you were unconscious, so we postponed it until you woke up." Wonder Woman said with her voice showing obvious superiority. Raven's name was now being underlined on her blacklist, no, circled and starred.

Pulling out something that looked a lot like a diabetes tester, Superman said, "this is a memory absorber, we will place it as the base of your neck and…"

"I know how it works, you aren't the first to tamper with my mind." Raven said as she sat down on the couch.

"How long exactly is that one supposed to take?" asked Tokala, remembering the pain the procedure has caused when she was younger. Back then she didn't quite have the same amount of memories, and not nearly as painful.

"It's supposed to be around ten seconds, but it depends on every person." Said Wonder Woman attempting at looking knowledgeable. She failed… miserably. No matter how hard she tried she still looked like a spoiled princess.

"Just get it over with," said Raven as she showed the back of her head to the crowd. Superman came up and not so gently placed the needle between the first two vertebrae, causing Starfire to gasp in horror and grip tightly Robin's arm. Raven's eyes grew wide and her nails dug into her thigh as scene after scene of blood baths, women dressed in rags being whipped by men, and rape flashed through her mind. She fought the incoming depression as long as she could, but when she saw the memory of her having to kill four little girls just to save them from their horrible fate, she remembered perfectly every moment of her unpleasant sojourn in the Order of Scath. Needless to say, she gave up, it was too much for her to bear. Externally, her body convulsed and she fell off the couch and onto the floor, making the needle dig deeper into spine. Her whole body arched upwards then collapsed. Tokala ran forward at this point and tore the needle out of her head and threw it aside. Gently he held her head in his hands, applying healing powers to the small opening in the back of her head.

"Breathe, idiot!" he whispered to Raven as soon as he realized she was not letting herself do this basic function.


	11. Chapter 11

"Is she okay?" asked Robin as he finally came out of his momentary pause.

"She's in shock, but other than the fact that I can't get her to breathe she's perfect." Said Tokala sarcastically. Right now the only thing on every Titan's mind was 'is Rae gonna be okay?' and maybe 'What wouldn't I do to those bastards.' That might just have been Tokala though. He had been enjoying this day so far.

Suddenly she shook violently and her eyes opened. She started breathing normally, that is, she actually was taking in air now, and everyone let out breaths that they too had been keeping. Well maybe not the JLU leaders who considered her as an enemy and an unwilling source of information.

"Congratulations, you have officially destroyed every mental barrier she has created over the past four years." Said Tokala to the superheroes with a hint of venom in his voice.

"So, I guess this means that you will not be replacing her in the nomination?" asked Wonder Woman.

"No, no! I would love to become corrupt with power to the extent of causing mental harm to the one who saved your butts a week earlier." Said Tokala sarcastically and with much more than just a hint of venom this time. Some might have considered that a threat…

"I can't hear it!!!" shouted a whinny kid's voice.

"Stay perfectly _quiet_ and listen," said a voice she knew all too well.

"Hey! It's gone!" said a young girl's voice. Raven did the only thing she could think of at the moment. Her hand shot out from under the covers and headed straight for the tallest of the group as her body sat up in bed. He quickly blocked her hit by grabbing her hand and saying, "Good morning to you too." Only one person she knew would say that after she attacked him.

Slowly her eyes focused and she saw Tokala, Marvin, Timmy and Teether sitting on her bed, starring at her. She let herself drop back on the bed with a sigh. "So, what exactly are you guys trying to hear?" she asked.

Tokala tried to say something but Timmy managed to blurt out, "Theysaidthatyoupurrinyoursleep! Icouldn'thearitbuttheyalldid! It'snofair!"

"Yeah! It sounds almost like a kitty!" said Marvin while giggling. A smile appeared on Raven's face as she heard the junior heroes exclaim at and describe her newfound skill. She seemed to have a lot of those. Teether, still not being able to speak coherently exclaimed his enthusiasm by giving her a gigantic bear hug and attempting to replicate her purring.

"Where's Bobby?" asked Raven curious as to why she hadn't seen the giant teddy bear yet.

"We couldn't fit him in the hallway so he's waiting for everyone in the main room." explained Marvin.

"You guys should go see him, he's probably getting lonely." Said Raven trying to get the wunderkinds out of the room without insulting them. "I'll follow you in a couple minutes."

"Kay!" gurgled Teether as he and the rest walked out.

"How long have I been out?" asked Raven as soon as she knew that the only other person in the room was Tokala.

"About two hours…" he said while moving off the wall he had been leaning against. "Can I see your wound?"

"What if I say no?" responded Raven teasingly.

"Then I'll have to force you unconscious then check it, now let me see it." Tokala said with a bit more authority. Raven muttered a "fine" and removed the long sleeve shirt she was wearing, revealing a black sports bra and a whole lot of bandages wrapped around her stomach area. Tokala blushed slightly at the sight of her exposed skin. He was _never_ going to get used to this. He slowly removed the old bandages exhibiting a painful looking wound that was having a lot of trouble healing.

"How is it?" she asked as she looked down as Tokala re-wrapped her torso in new bandages.

"It's doing well for a injury by silver, I can't do anything more for it that wrap it up and make you take all sorts of potions, though." Said Tokala as he tied off the end of the bandages. Raven the put the shirt back on, "at least you're doing something… other than forcing me not to work out, why can't I workout?"

"Because you'll probably open the wound again." Tokala stated in an authoritarian manner.

"Aw come on! It's boring not being able to do anything!" Raven said in her whiniest voice, which was actually not quite that whinny.

"You'll get to it someday… Normally you would love an excuse not to do anything but read." Tokala said as he threw out the old bandages and put the roll of fresh bandages away.

"Someday?!?! Can't you give me a deadline at least?" Raven said in fake outrage. She new very well that it would probably only be a week until she was able to function normally. "Plus reading is only fun when there is other stuff to do, I don't like it when it's the only thing I can do."

"Come on, don't you have a meeting with a certain Bobby?" said Tokala as he dragged her out of the room.

"Rae… you got a letter…" said Beastboy as he walked into the common room.

"Not again!" sighed Cyborg as he flipped a pancake.

"All the mail we receive does seems to end up bad," said Starfire, making the moral of the story clear to all who hadn't understood it yet.

"There's something weird writing on it. Tak… Takess…" said Beasboy as he tried to decipher the seemingly random collection of letters on the envelope.

"Takeshi Ryuu," said Tokala as he entered the room and grabbed the letter from Beastboy's hands. Raven immediately looked up from the book she had been reading and a smile reached her face. She tore through the envelope only seconds after he gave it to her. Simultaneously they bent over the sheet of incomprehensible scribbles.

_Dear Raven, Tokala,_

_I am so glad that you two are alive, I have lived all these years not knowing if either one of you had die or survived. I have to say that I am sad to have learned all this from a television in Amdo. You two are all over the news as the heroes that sacrificed their lives to help the Justice League. They don't quite agree with each other though. Some say that Raven is dead, while others believe you are recovering. I sincerely hope that the latter is right. Since the first time I saw you on TV I have been following the story with unusual attention considering that it's TV. There was an interview with Superman recently and he said that you had previous alliances that were cause for eliminating you from the nominee list … you did save the Justice League, right? I hope that by the time my letter reaches you times have changed, including the doubt over Raven's life. You are free to come visit the temple at anytime and I hope that you come soon. Instructions are on the map enclosed with this letter._

_I have missed you two so much. _

_Ryuu_


	12. Chapter 12

"Can we go?" Raven asked Robin.

"Um… where exactly is this…place," asked Robin attempting a look at the letter Tokala still held.

"Ohh… yeah, sorry. This is a letter from Ryuu, a monk who helped raise us… we both thought that he had died in Azarath, but apparently not. He's inviting us to the temple he's at presently… Can we go?" Raven said a bit faster than usual, excitement evident in her voice.

"Oh! I would love to meet Raven's … father!" said Starfire trying to help, but not quite sure if father was the right word to describe the Monk.

"Sure, why not?" responded Robin, giving in to his weakness. Those two could make him agree to just about anything, especially when they teamed up.

"Sweet!!! We get to go on a vacation!!!" shouted Beastboy as he sprinted into his room to pack his bags.

"I guess we are…" Robin said reluctantly as Starfire squealed in happiness. He smiled feebly and started walking out the door. By that time Tokala had gotten over the shock and was now standing next to Raven. He whispered something in her ear and kissed her ear as she smiled. _…Wait a second!!!!_

"Aww, Raven's got a boyfriend!!!" hollered Cyborg loud enough for the entire city to hear. Robin hadn't the only one to have seen them. Raven blushed violently and Tokala smiled. They were total opposites, but so perfect for each other.

In a sudden burst of courage she said, "und Sie wurden erschrocken, als sie mich auszogen…" Tokala blushed violently and his fox ears grew in his hair, he hadn't thought that she knew about that part. Raven simply smiled and walked away, her job here was done.

"That girl sure is complicated." Whispered Cyborg to Robin as she walked out the room.

"And he's the only one who can understand her, wasn't that German that she spoke?" stated Robin.

"Not always, I didn't see that one coming. And it was German." Tokala said to the two that had been talking about him.

"How did you???" asked Robin, quite shocked that he had overheard them.

"These are very sensitive," he said pointing to his new set of fox ears.

"Oh," Cyborg and Robin said in unison, they already knew that Hanyou's repressed demon traits came out when control on their emotions was weakened. Somehow those couple of words made his loose control quite quickly.

"We're leaving tomorrow, right?" asked Tokala as he pressed the ears down to his head, forcing them into submission. Robin nodded before turning to look over the computer controls and Cyborg sent a call to Flash and Jinx, the two closest titans.

This had been a rather unsettling day…

The next morning everyone woke early, early meaning about 8 o'clock. Tibet wasn't exactly next-door. They packed their belongings in the T-ship and everyone got in their respective seats. Since Beastboy was the only one who could shrink himself, Tokala shared his cabin. It was really no problem for either of its occupants, Beastboy wasn't used to waking up this early so he turned into a cat and slept the entire way there. This also pleased the rest of the team who didn't have to hear BB ranting incessantly into the speakers.

Once they arrived, they parked in a small grove off to the side of the temple. A young monk came to greet them.

"We have been expecting you." He said in an obvious Asian accent, bowing in the traditional manner. Raven and Tokala bowed back and followed as the monk lead them into a winding path up a mountain. The rest of the Titans followed, not quite sure what to do.

"You seem to have recovered well." Said a voice coming from the top of the path. A Buddhist monk dressed in the traditional orange robes and sandals stood there. His bald head held a genuine smile of joy mixed with relief. Raven sped up ever so slightly in her climb and once she reached the last set she bowed a greeting to him.

"Isn't she happy to see him?" asked Robin, confused by the lack of emotion on Raven's face.

"Wait for it…" simply said Tokala. As soon as he finished his sentence Raven threw herself at the monk and held him in an embrace full of pure joy.

"I missed you…" she whispered into the folds of his tunic as he got over the shock of the sudden burst of emotion.

"I have missed you too, it has been too long since we last saw each other." Ryuu replied. He slowly turned to the Titans who had just climbed the final step. "Come with me, you all must be famished." He led them through arches and past humble stone temples, to a slightly larger building where smoke rippled out of the small chimney. "I do believe that they still have something to eat in there. Lunch was served only a few minutes ago."

"Sweet, I'm hungry enough to eat a horse!" said Cyborg as both Raven, Tokala and Ryuu tried to suppress chuckles. "What?!"

"This is a _Buddhist_ temple, as in no killing or eating of flesh." Raven said, knowing that Cyborg had been waiting for some sort of steak or burger.

"Aww, that means I have to eat _veggies_?" said Cyborg shuddering at the heinous word.

"Yes, I am afraid that _veggies_, as you say, are the only thing on the menu. Alongside tofu of course." Said Ryuu, opening the door for the titans to enter.

"Dude! I love this place already!" said Beastboy as he walked in. Soon everyone was sitting along one of the many sturdy, oak tables dotting the dinning room floor. Bowls of steaming vegetable stew were passed to each visitor. For the first few minutes Cyborg simply stared at the nearly solid mass of _green_ in his bowl.

"This stuff isn't all that bad!" said Robin, surprised that something so unappealing to look at was actually decent, no, good.

"It still looks weird though," said Cyborg, refusing to accept that vegetables could taste good.

"Do not judge a book by its cover, or in this case stew," said Ryuu grinning into his meal, expecting a witty response from one of his past charges.

"You still haven't gotten any new wise sayings, only the things you want to change don't," said Tokala with a hint of sarcasm. He hadn't changed either. Raven, though, was a different matter. He hadn't seen her four about four years. One can change a lot in that time.

They spent the rest of the afternoon touring the humble, and rather primitive temple village. They passed by the lounge room, library, bathrooms, meditation garden with a giant statue of Buddha, and central temple. Raven remembered all the details from past stories about the place where Ryuu had been raised. They all matched perfectly with the present temple; from the golden laughing Buddha in the main temple to the simple furnishings and abundance of plants in each room. Either all temples are eerily similar or this is the temple that was the root of her envy to go visit earth. The final stop on their tour was the bedrooms, or to be politically correct, bedroom.

"Here are your beds, I must apologize for the lack of separate bedrooms, but he don't often get female guests. Sorry?" said Ryuu showing them six beds among the rows that encompassed the whole of one tiny building. The only other thing in the room was a couple of coarse wooden armoires and a fireplace. "Your belongings shall be brought up shortly, until then do as you please." With that command in mind the group dispersed itself across the grounds. Some to the bathrooms for much needed relief, others to go visit the resident cats that took shelter in the lounge room. A few minutes later, the load of baggages arrived in front of their beds and, one by one, their respective owner slowly began unpacking. Soon everyone was asleep, no noise could be heard except the loud snoring of a few members, particularly a green skinned one, and the soft, but distinct purring of another.


End file.
